Simple Soup Sunday Supper

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you already know I can not get enough soup. I could eat soup every day and not get bored. After all, there are so many different soups. Furthermore, every soup is infinitely customizable based on ingredient availability and cooks’ preference.

This year, we grew leeks in the Food It Yourself garden. I used them to make the French classic: leek and potato soup. Now that leeks are in season at the market, I decided to make it again. Although French cooking has a reputation for being complicated and fussy, this is a very simple soup. I used Julia Child’s recipe as a reference, but soup is a very forgiving medium. I just eyeballed all the ingredients. If you are not very confident in your cooking improvisation skills, soup is a good food to practice with.

These leeks from the supermarket are much bigger than the ones I grew. Slice the white and tender green parts of the leeks, then rinse the slices. Dirt gets stuck in the leeks’ layers and I have found this is the best way to make sure they are clean. Note: You just sliced grungy leeks. Wash your knife and cutting board before proceeding.

Next, sauté the leeks in butter until soft. Then, add the chopped potatoes and water or broth to cover. I had chicken bouillon, so I used that. Also, I did not peel my potatoes. I almost never peel potatoes. You do you, though. Let that all simmer together until the potatoes are cooked.

While that happens, a decision must be made: what texture do you want your soup to be? You can dish this soup up as is- broth with vegetables intact. You can puree it smooth and call it by the very fancy name vichyssoise (pronounced vee-shee-SWAZ). Or, you can squish some of the potatoes with the back of your cooking spoon and make a thickened base with little chunks. The choice is yours. I chose little chunks.

The recipe says to finish the soup with cream or butter just before serving, but I used evaporated milk. I find cream too heavy. You can add whatever you like: milk, half-and-half, cream, or even a non-dairy milk substitute. This is soup. There are no hard and fast rules. With a quick grind of black pepper, the soup was complete. Behold!

This is just the kind of thick, filling soup a late December night calls for. What simple but satisfying dishes have you been making lately? Share in the comments!